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EA Sports Names Kevin Durant NBA Elite 11 Cover Athlete

Oklahoma City Thunder star is the third player to be featured on the cover of EA's NBA and NCAA games.

EA Sports is billing its renamed basketball franchise, NBA Elite, as a game changer. Fittingly, a real-life game changer will grace the rebooted game's first cover. Kevin Durant, the youngest player in NBA history to lead the league in scoring, is your NBA Elite 11 cover athlete.

Electronic Arts made the announcement this afternoon, welcoming the Oklahoma City Thunder small forward to Elite after he led the Thunder to an impressive 50 win season and was, for a handful of sports writers at least, the MVP of the NBA in the second half.

"Durant is a game changer," EA Marketing VP Jordan Edelstein said in a statement. "There has never been a player his size with his skill set, and there has never before been a basketball videogame like NBA Elite. Just like we see Durant as the future of the NBA, NBA Elite 11 represents the future of basketball videogames by providing a gameplay experience you simply won't find anywhere else on the market."

Currently in development by EA Canada in Vancouver, NBA Elite 11 will feature Hands-On Control for one-to-one responsiveness in player movement. Gone are the pre-determined animations from past games that make gamers sit and watch once an scenario begins. Hands-On will be used to control everything in a player's arsenal, from dribbling moves and dunks to defense and drives.

"I've always been a fan of EA Sports," said Durant. "This has been an exciting year for me and the team, and capping it off with being on the cover of NBA Elite 11 is cool."

NBA Elite 11 is set to launch for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this October.

Sharkey says: Durant's awesome season was completely overshadowed by LeBron James' monster year. And I have a feeling he'll once again be overshadowed in the videogame realm. EA and 2K are both set to launch their revamped basketball games this fall, and NBA 2K11 will feature His Airness, Michael Jordan, on the cover.